Monday, 9 January 2012

My
very first Toy of the year!... and I was waiting to put my hands (again) for quite some time, I say again because I had owned this camera before well back in 2006 but sold it. I can't remember exactly why but I
guess at the time I was really hooked on the imperfections on my
original Diana Camera and Holga that I may have found the Isoly
results a bit neat when both compared.

Well... needless to say I'd regreted ever since the camera has gone,
especially because It's not so easy to find one cheap nowadays so I'm glad I got this one for a good price.

The
Isoly I sold back in 2006 gave me some good sharp pictures with
similar results I get from my Kodak Cresta.

The
soft focus images are my fault as I may have estimated
the distance between camera and subject uncorrectly.

The similarities
between the Diana camera produced by the Chinese company Great Wall Plastic Factory in the 60s are huge and is well mentioned over the web...pretty sure the Isoly was the inspiration.

As expected the Agfa Isoly is way better built comparing to the Diana, the
plastic is much stronger which makes the camera more robust when
handling, the top is made of metal and so are the lens
barrel. The camera It's fitted with hot shoe for a dedicated flash, cable release
and a tripod socket, the lens is made of glass.

The Diana's locking mechanism is also written in English and in German exactly as it is on the Isoly.

Few models are available and I have the "plain" version with only two speeds (1/30 and 1/100 plus bulb) with f stops of 11 and 6.3, the focus range from 1m to infinity (reading in feet is also available) and a lock mechanism prevents double exposure which may put off some of the toy cameras fanatics. It takes 16 square pictures on a 120 film just like the Diana camera.